Letter from County of Ventura Planning Division to SoCalGas, September 19, 2022

Yesterday, Dave Ward, Planning Director for the County of Ventura Planning division, sent a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission correcting several errors in the "environmental assessment" done by Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) for their own project earlier this year. SoCalGas is using this self assessment to to justify their plan to install brand new methane compressors across from an elementary school in Ventura. These errors are a reminder of why it is so important to have an _Independent_ CEQA review by the PUC of these plans.

SoCalGas's self-assessment is like a fox inspecting the henhouse fence. “Our children's lives are worth more than this error-ridden self-justification of a report masquerading as an "environmental assessment." We need a fully independent CEQA review.

September 19, 2022

President Alice Reynolds

California Public Utilities Commission

505 Van Ness Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94102

SUBJECT: Clarification Regarding the Alternatives Analysis for the Devil’s Canyon

Road Site in the Southern California Gas Ventura Compressor Station

Modernization Project Feasibility Study dated March 2022

President Alice Reynolds:

The County of Ventura (County) Planning Division coordinates with State agencies and

neighboring jurisdictions to review and comment on projects that could affect the

unincorporated area of Ventura County. This letter is provided regarding the Feasibility

Study of Potential Alternatives in the Ventura Compressor Station Modernization Project

(Feasibility Study), published in March 2022 by the Southern California Gas Company

(SoCalGas). The Feasibility Study included analysis of the County’s zoning ordinance

and the Ventura County Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) Initiative,

as it pertains to the Devil’s Canyon Road Site that is not consistent with the County’s

actual land use rules. This letter clarifies that the County’s existing General Plan and

zoning ordinance authorize the development of public utilities at the Devil’s Canyon Road

Site. In addition, the project would not implicate, let alone be inconsistent with, the SOAR

Initiative.

Project Characteristics

According to the Feasibility Study, compressor stations are required to provide the

pressurization needed to move gas through transmission pipelines which is then stored

or used for consumer uses or electricity generation. The existing Ventura Compressor

Station was originally constructed in 1923 with the current equipment installed in the

1980’s. In 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) requested that

SoCalGas prepare a feasibility study to replace the existing facility. As part of this study,

SoCalGas was required to identify and evaluate alternative sites. Ten sites were

evaluated and five were dismissed as they did not meet all of the evaluation criteria. The

Devil’s Canyon Road location was included in the final five to be further reviewed. The

site is located at 600 West Shell Road near the City of Ventura in unincorporated County

(Assessor’s Parcel Number 060-0-310-165); further, the site is located within a highly

disturbed area previously used for oil production.

The Feasibility Study identifies the Devil’s Canyon Road site as being located on a 336-

acre parcel with a General Plan land use designation of Open Space and Non-Coastal

Zoning Ordinance (NCZO) designation of Open Space (OS). On page 199, the Feasibility

Study identifies the OS zone as allowing for “generally passive uses, including

preservation of natural resources, managed production of resources, outdoor recreation,

and areas requiring special management due to hazardous or special conditions (e.g.,

earthquake fault zones, unstable soil areas, flood plains, high fire severity areas), among

others.” It then states that the “the selection of the Devil’s Canyon Road Site is not

consistent with existing land use and zoning for the on-site location to facilitate the types

of operational uses required by the project. In addition, the underlying land use of the

compressor station site is included in the County of Ventura Measure C, SOAR Initiative—

2050.” On page 200, the final Evaluation and Score section for Devil’s Canyon Road also

states that the operational components would be located on parcels with zoning that does

not support industrial and/or manufacturing uses and that the site is further constrained

by inconsistencies with the SOAR Initiative.

Analysis of County Regulations

Land uses in unincorporated Ventura County are governed by the General Plan and

zoning ordinances. The SOAR Initiative, which is included in the General Plan, applies to

proposals to re-designate lands that are currently designated as Open Space, Agricultural

Exclusive or Rural, and also applies to proposals to amend the General Plan policies

pertaining to these land use designations.

Public Service/Utility Facilities Use Category in the Non-Coastal Zoning Ordinance

NCZO Section 8105-4, includes a permissible land use category called “Public

Service/Utility Facilities” that allows public utilities in the OS zone. The OS zone has eight

main purposes, primarily for the preservation of natural resources, outdoor recreation,

and limiting urban sprawl/confining urban development, and the managed production of

resources including but not limited to forest lands, rangelands, recharge of groundwater

basins, and areas containing major mineral deposits. Because a natural gas compressor

station operated by SoCalGas would be a public utility, it is expressly allowed in the OS

zone.

The Table shows an excerpt from NCZO Section 8105-4 and that “Public

Service/Utility Facilities” are allowed within the OS zone through a Conditional Use Permit

(CUP).

Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources Initiative

The SOAR Initiative was most recently adopted by Ventura County voters in 2016. It

generally only applies to proposals to re-designate land that is currently designated as

Open Space, Agricultural Exclusive or Rural in the General Plan, and to proposals to

amend the policies applicable to these General Plan designations to allow for more

intensive land uses within these designated lands.

As stated above in the zoning analysis, the compressor station, as a public utility, is

expressly allowed in the OS zone. There is also currently “vertical consistency” between

the site’s OS zone and its existing Open Space General Plan land use designation. The

Devil’s Canyon Road Site would not require a land use re-designation under the General

Plan, and so the project would not implicate the SOAR Initiative. Consequently, the

project would be consistent with the existing General Plan which includes the SOAR

Initiative.

Analysis of State Regulations

While the County’s General Plan and NCZO authorize a compressor station as a "public

service/utility facilities," it is also necessary to look to the California Public Utilities Code

(PUC) to determine if there are preemptions of local authority for a compressor station

that would be owned and operated by SoCalGas. A "public utility" is defined by the PUC

Section 216(a)(1) to include "every common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline

corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph

corporation, water corporation, sewer system corporation, and heat corporation, where

the service is performed for, or the commodity is delivered to, the public or any portion

thereof." Moreover, according to PUC Section 216(b) carriers and corporations that fall

within the definition of a "public utility" are "subject to the jurisdiction, control, and

regulation of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)." SoCalGas falls under

the state definition of a public utility and is subject to the jurisdiction, control, and

regulation of the CPUC, therefore the project could be authorized by the CPUC without

authorization by the County. Section 5.2.1 in the Feasibility Study also discusses the

overarching authority of the CPUC to preempt the need for local discretionary permits.

Conclusion

The Feasibility Study inaccurately characterizes the regulatory environment, local zoning

conditions, and the SOAR Initiative with respect to the alternative analysis for the Devil’s

Canyon Road Site. Local regulations could allow the compressor station on the Site.

Moreover, the CPUC is the lead agency in permitting a SoCalGas compressor station

and therefore a local land use permit would not be required for this project.

If you have any questions about this letter, please contact me at 805-654-2481 or

Dave.Ward@ventura.org.

Sincerely,

Dave Ward, AICP

Planning Director

County of Ventura Planning Division